Tales of the Abyss: The Beast Within
by SoulNinj42014
Summary: After the fall of Akzeriuth, Luke decided to live in Exile in the wilderness, will he survive or will he gain help from a Supernatural force?


Hey what's up guys, this is SoulNinj4 here bringing you all the first chapter of the story Tales of the Abyss: Wild Nature.

I've done many hour of brainstorming and finally got things settled to where i can write things out, be warned all you homophobes and flamers, this story will hold Yaoi and other sexual themes, so if you're are one of these people then don't read and stay out.

Anyway, i have also decided to change some things in the story, there are some that might stay the same, but most will be changed.

Well Now that you all know what you're in store for, let's get things started; i hope you all will enjoy this.

Tales of the Abyss: Wild Nature Chapter 1 Self Exile

Luke sat on the bed he was resting on, staring blankly at nothing as many thought were going through his head.

''So...it really is my fault ?'' He asked himself.'' The red head had just woken up from his slumber after being disconnected from his original Asch, he had known that Tear has stayed to watch over him in Yulia city, after seeing what Van had planned for him, he had realized what he had done.

A sharp pang of regret hit Luke like a battering ram, al he ever wanted was to be recognized as something more than just a spoild noble, he would never imagine detroying a whole city.

'all I just wanted to be a hero, to be something more...I...I.' Luke thought as tears began to build up in his eyes.

''Master!'' A young tiny voice yelled. bringing the noble out of reprieve.

Looking down on the bed, he instantly caught sight of the cheagle that always stuck around him, Mieu.

''Mieu...'' Luke whispered, a little happy that the small animal stayed with him, despite all he did to him.

''I was so worried master, I thought you would never wake up, i'm so glad.'' Mieu said sounding quite relieved.

Luke looked at the Cheagles eyes and was surprised that he saw some dried up tears, the cheagle was actually concerned for his well being, it actually cared for him, despite all the abuse he put it through.

That did it for Luke as he found himself beginning to cry, he quickly grabbed the cheagle and began to hug it close to his chest.

''I'm so sorry Mieu, for everything I've done to you, I am so sorry.'' Luke said crying.

Mieu began crying as well, he never liked seeing his master in pain. ''It's okay master, I don't hate you, you still saved my life in the cheagle woods, I am forever grateful for what you did.''

This caused Luke to cry a little harder before he calmed down, that's when he noticed Tears absence.

''Huh?, I thought Tear stayed here, where is she now?'' He asked.

Mieu looked thoughtful for a second before he remember what he saw a few hours before.

''Tear left for some reason, she was acting a little weird, I really don't know where she went to though.'' The cheagle answered.

What little hope Luke had moment's before was utterly crushed as he heard Mieu's explaination, 'But why?. Why would she leave me here?, she...she wouldn't abandon me too...right?'' He thought.

His thought's went back to when everyone chewed him out after Akzeriuth, the looks of anger, hatred and disgust for what he did, and possibly for what he was. The memory itself gave Luke his answer.

'So everyone has really abandoned me, I guess I deserved it, after what I did, hell i'm not even a real human being...' maybe it's better if I left.' He thought. With him mind made up he got up from the bed.

''Mieu.'' He called out.

''Yes Master?'' Mieu responded.

''Get ready to go...We're leaving for the surface.'' He answered. Mieu looked at his master utterly surprised.

''But what about the others?, Won't they be worried about you if left without telling them?''. Luke looked back at the cheagle with a fake smile on his face.

''Don't worry about them, they'll be fine with out us''. He answered. 'Beside's I'm pretty sure they find me worth saving, let lone any type of redemption' He thought sadly, as he pushed back his tears.

Mieu seemed convinced of his masters words as he quickly concieded. Luke quickly began packing all of his supplies and exited the room with Mieu standing on his shoulder. It took some asking around, but luckly he was directed to Theodoro Tears grandfather, as he entered the meeting hall, he was greeted with a small smile from the elderly man.

''Ah young scion of the sacred flame, how may I help you this day?'' Theodoro asked seemingly quite happy to see the red haired noble. Luke found it strange that the miestro would be so happy to see him, but quickly banished the thought.

''Yes, I was wondering if you could show me how I could get to the surface?'' The noble asked.

'ah this must be a sign from Yulia, she may direct the boy down the path of the score' The elder thought.

''But of course, please allow me to show you the way to your destination'' Theodoro said.

Thedoro leaded Luke throw Yulia city to the room, along the way Luke decided to apologize for what he did to Akzeriuth, which led to a conversation that utterly blew the nobles mind. (Take a god wild guess at what conversation i'm talking about.)

After a few minutes of silently walking through the hallways, they finally reach a room that held a huge glyph directly in the center of it.

''Hear we are, this glyph should take you to the surface, this will drop you off at a huge plain called Ameris Spring, from here you should be able to go to any destination that you so wish, now if you would please step on to the glyph, I will resite the arte that will activate it. With a silent nod Luke enter the glyph, Theodoro resited the words for the arte, after a few seconds, the noble suddenly felt light as the glyph. The next instant the red head disappered in a small ray of light.

_Surface, In Ameris Spring:_

A small ray of light flew towards a small spring, once it touched down a small flash snhined for a second before Luke and Mieu appeared, surprised that the glyph just dropped him into the water. Quickly jumping out of the spring, he was more surprised that he didn't get wet from the spring, but decided not to dwell on the it, he looked around for any monsters or bandit that may have been in the area, seeing that it was clear, he lowered his guard and began walking around hoping to find his way to any towns he could find.

The walk itself took quite a while as there were huge maintain passes and multiple monsters residing with in them, at time's he took a rest and soaked his feet in one of the springs, which reminded him he needed to get new shoes since his boots were wearing out. After hour's of travel he finally found his way to Daath sea port. The noble was surprised he found himself just outside the city where where the Oracle Knights were stationed, he had heard about Daath from Ion while on their travels, after mulling over his choices for a bit, he decided to seek temporary asylum within Daath until he could figure out what he would do next, he began walking down the trail towards Darth, silently hoping that he didn't run into any Knights while he was there.

(Mean While)

Tear stood near her bed, where Luke was lying in earlier, tears or guilt and sorrow stramed down her face as she stood there.

''Luke...I'm so sorry.'' She said as she remembered what she had learned Hour earlier.

(Flash Back):

Tear sat down in the chair next to the bed, watching over the red head, she was thinking what exactly to do about the noble, which she seemed to have built quite a bit of resentment for after the incident in Akzeriuth, however for some reason she had a sudden tug on her heart, some thing in the back of her head told her that she and the others had been for to hard on the red head, like she didn't take something into full account, her thought's were interrupted as she heard a knock at the door, getting up she walked over and answered it, and was stunned to find her former mentor Lagretta standing at the door.

The brunette instantly went for her knives, preparing for battle, but stopped when Lagretta rose her hand.

''Stop Tear, I am not here to fight'' She said calmly. Tear narrowed her eye's.

''Then what are you here for...?'' Tear asked darkly not lowering her guard.

''Van has requested that I come and get you, he wishes to speak with you.'' Lagretta answered.

Tear's eye's widened for a second before she schooled her features, if she go to her brother, she might be able to finally get some answers, she always want to know what the true purpose of her brother's madness, hopefully she might be able to convince her brother to stop what ever he was doing. The brunette slowly lowered her weapon,

''Alright, take me to my brother'' She said. Lagretta nodded and began to walked towards the designated destination, with Tear following behind her waringly.

After traveling through the teleportation glyph, they quickly rode a ferry towards the research city of Belkand, once there Lagretta led Tear to a hidden office inside on the labratories, it was there they finally met up with van who was sitting at his desk.

''Commandant, I have brought Tear to you, as you asked.'' Lagretta said. Van let a small smile grace his features.

''Ah, very good Lagretta, thank you.'' He said as he stood up from his chair, as he walked around his desk, he continued.

''Could you please leave us alone for a moment, this is a personal matter.'' He said.

''Yes Sir!'' Lagretta saluted as she walked out the office, once their were alone, Tear decided to speak.

''Brother...There is much I want to know, please tell me why are you doing all of this?, why do you help destroy Akzeriuth?!'' She asked raising her voice. Van was silent for a moment before he spoke.

''It's all because of the Score'' Van answered silently.

'The Score?'' Tear asked confused.

Yes Tear, the Score '' Van Answered.

''What do you mean?'' Tear asked.

''The Score has had a hold on the people of this world for far too long, the people here have absolutely no free will of their own.

''What?'' Tear said surprised by her brothers words.

''Think about it Tear, why is it that people never take measures to prevent any calamity with their own hands? Why people must suffer and die for the fulfillment of the Score, so that others can continue to have their own happiness and prosperity?!''Van yelled. Everything that we have went through, all of the pain, all of our sorrow, was all because of the Score, It the reason why our home was destroyed, and no did anything to prevent it.

As Tear listened to her brothers rants, she slowly began to see the anger, hatred and madness with in her brother, it didn't take much for to figure out why her brother did this.

''So...this is about revenge then?!'' She asked. Van stayed quiet for a second before answering.

''Perhaps, but my goal is more than just revenge, I intend to detsroy this world of the score, and Lorelei along with it, I want to remake this world in to a world of free will, where people acheieve peace, with their own hands, not by some dictation through some stone.''

Tear couldn't believe what she was hearing, she couldn't believe that her brother would be so far gone, she was beginning to think that she couldn't save hi after all, to destroy and remake the world was a power that far beyond anyone in this world, such a thing wouldn't be possible.

''Brother!, have you gone insane?!'' To destroy this world means destroying every living being!'' She yelled.

''Some sacrifices are required'' Van said calmly. Tear having heard enough reached for her knives.

''So what is it that you want with me?, i'm know you have a reason for asking me to come here.'' Tear said.

''I'm asking you to come to your senses and join me in my quest, I do not wish to see you suffer from the Score any longer, please Tear, help me creating a new world'' Van said.

Tear immediately knew her answer, she turned away from her brother.

''Sorry Van, but I can not join you, I may agree with you that Hod should have been saved, however what's past is past, I have moved on, I do not wish to live with the death of every living being on my hands.'' The Brunette answered. Van frowned in sadness and turned away.

''I see, so this is it then?'' He asked.

''Yes brother...it is'' Tear answered as stopping herself from crying.

''Very well.'' Van said with deep sadness. ''You may go now, I will not order my troops to attack you.''

Tear began walking out of the office, her face void of any emotions, contrast to the inner turmoil she was going through.

''Tear...'' Van called out just as she reached the outside of the room, Tear stopped for a moment to listen to what her brother had to say.

''Know that the next time we meet...I will show you no mercy...'' The Commandant said with no emotion.''

Tear didn't speak for a few moments, taking in her brothers words.

''And neither will I...'' She finally said, the brunette then continued her walk towards the Laboratory entrance. The whole way she had kept her feelings in check, despite hardening herself, she could feel she was on the verge of breaking down, she was incredibly saddened that her only brother, the one she loved the most, had fallen so far, she felt utterly helpless that she couldn't heal his heart. However there wasn't anytime to grieve, the only thing she could do was build up her resolve and put Van out of his misery the next time she confronted him.

Just as she reached the entrance of Belkand, she sensed behind her, she prepared her knife and turned to confront her alleged attacker, what she saw took her for a loop, right in front of her was a young boy, who look no older than 16 years of age, dark green hair and sharp green eyes, her was dressed in a standard Oracle Knight's armor, the boy smiled a rather kind smile.

''I-Ion?'' Tear asked. The boy chuckled before speaking.

''Close but not quite, my name is Abel, i'm currently working as an Oracle Knight, and i'm am also a replica, just like Sync and Ion.'' Abel answered.

Tear couldn't believe it, this was another clone of the original Fon Master, she began to wonder how many were created. The Brunette finally found her voice after snapping out of her stupor.

''Which one are you?'' She that asked as she put her knife away.

''I was created right before Ion was, right after Sync was created, I was originally supposed to be the next Fon Master however that never happened.'' Abel said smirking a bit knowing what the brunette was going to ask next.

''Let me guess, it didn't turn out like my brother had planned right?'' Tear asked. Abel smirked even more.

''Yes and No, what I mean by yes is that, I am actually the perfect replica of the original Fon Master, right down to his Daathic Fonic Artes. Tear eye's widened as she listened.

''What I mean by no is that...I simply escaped.'' Abel finished.

''How?'' Tear asked. Abel smiled.

''It's a bit of a long story, and it hardly believable, all i'll say, it that I got some help from a few Knight's who didn't think too highly of Van's plan, and neither do I, which is why i'm going to help you when ever I can, I have informants who travel all across the world, gaining information, I will inform them of you and your group so they'll know who you are, they will give you any update's to Van's plan, from there it's up to you all to stop him.'' The green hair boy explained.

''So that's how you know about us?'' Tear asked.

''Yup, I had one of my guy's follow Jade and the rest, I wanted to make sure that their mission succeeded, it was all going smoothly until you and that other replica showed up in the cheagle woods when Ion went to go investigate, from there on my informants have kept watch over you all. I knew Van was planning something, but I didn't know what his full plan was until Akzeriuth was destroyed.'' Abel explained.

Tear instantly felt a tug on her heart for some reason, for some reason she felt as though she was going to here something she wasn't going to like. Unfortunately her intuition was right as she heard Abel's next words.

''Buy the way, how's Asch's replica?'' The green haired boy asked.

Tear was reluctant to answer, the tug was getting stronger, however she pushed away the feeling and answered.

''He...Should be fine, he currently in Yulia resting, chances are he might have already woken up and trying to wrap his head around all of this, hope fully he'll realize what he's done and take respon-

''You can stop right there.'' Abel interrupted with a bit of a harsh tone, the frown on his face showed a little bit of anger.

''What wrong.'' Tear asked confused.

''What's wrong is that you all are putting every bit of the blame on the replica when he's only partially the blame.

Tear's eye's narrowed. ''What do you mean he's partially the blame?, He was the one who did things with out even thinking of the consequences of his actions.''

''Yes that maybe true, however did you all ever think that the main reason why he was like that was because he was molded to be that way?'' Abel asked.

Tear was about to respond, but stopped when ever the Knight's words began to sink in, she along with the others never put Luke's true ignorance of the world, or his blind loyalty to Van into real prospective, they had always thought that Luke was just a spoiled brat who needed a reality check, never once did they really get to know why he was so loyal to Van or why he was so blind to the outside world, but once she thought about her brother's plan, it was starting to make sense.

''Oh god... you don't mean that my brother made him this why?'' She asked not liking her conclusion at all, guilt was beginning to stir within the pit of her stomach.

Able nodded. ''Yes, that is exactly what he did.'' He answered. ''When Van made Asch's replica, he had plotted to keep him as uninformed about the world as possible, he had already know about King Ingoberts sister and her condition should she become extremely stressed or worried, it played into Van's plan when he went to Batical with the replica, Luke would be placed under heavy surveillance in order to prevent another kidnapping, and his knowledge of the outside world was to be limited, if Luke were to get curious and sneak out, then the Madams condition would probably deteriorate, due to her worrying about the replica, Van wanted to make sure that his tool wouldn't turn on him buy keeping him as ignorant and spoiled as possible, all the while playing the role as a huge model figure for him, the poor bastard was just dying for his masters acknowledgment.'' Abel explained.

The more Tear listened, the more rotten she felt, she had made a grave mistake in her judgment, as everything Abel said sinked in, she began to worry about the red head's well being, so many thought's was going on in her head about what Luke would do to himself.

''I...I didn't know...Oh god Luke, what have we done?'' She said to herself.

''If I were you, I would go and make sure he's not doing anything stupid, there no telling what he'll do to himself.'' Abel said snapping the brunette out of his guilt trip. Tear nodded and gave the undercover knight a quick thank you before taking off as fast as she could back to Yulia city.

(Flash Back End)

Tear immediately wanted to go looking for him, but had know idea where to start, she could only imagine how everyone would take this is she were to see them again. Wiping her tears away she built up her resolve, she had to go and find the rest of the team, they needed to find Luke.

'Luke...Please be safe.' she thought as she began to pack the her equipment.

(Back on surface: In Daath)

Luke walked through the main city of Daath, looking at the many stores and attractions along the way, for once he was actually enjoying himself despite all he went through. Mieu was also happy that his master was finally starting to feel better, however the happiness could last long as the red head caught sight of a large gathering of many citizens and priests at the Daath cemetery, he could over hear one of the priest say a prayer as there was total silence, quite a few citizens were opening crying or the loss of their loved ones. He didn't notice a citizen walk up right next to him.

''Are you here to pray for the lost souls here?'' The man asked, scaring the red head for a second, he quickly regained his bearings and nodded.

The man smiled. ''I'll pray with you, I've come to do the same thing.''

Luke and the Man both bowed their heads, and held a moment of silence along with others who were attending the funeral service, after a few minutes the prayer ended and everyone began to disperse, only Luke and the man stayed. Luke decided to speak.

''If you don't mind me asking, who were the people who died here?'' He asked.

The male citizen sighed. ''There were the people who died in Akzeriuth.'' He answered.

Luke's eye's widened, he the guilt was coming back on him ten fold, he felt like breaking down right then and there, he was beginning to feel worse by the second as he remembered the sorrow on the citizens faces.

'Did...did I cause all of this, did I cause all of this sorrow...I.' Luke had to hold back from have a total break down, if he did here was a good chance that they would figure out that he was responsible for what happened, he was far to scared to even think about what they would do to him.

The Citizen noticed that Luke was totally silent and got a little worried.

''Are you alright?'' He asked, ''Your being awfully quiet.''

Luke turned to the man with a faked smiled. ''Oh no i'm fine, I was just thinking, well it was nice meeting you, but I have to go, I heading out on a trip.'' He said sounding as normal as possible.

The citizen seemed to have bought it, and departed for his home, while Luke went for the shopping area, the red head walked until he reached an alley, he walked into the alleyway slowly, he began to fel sick as he went down further, when he went in far enough, all of the emotions he had bottled up began to break free. Luke collapsed to the ground, no longer have the will to walk, tear streamed down Luke's eyes as he now began weeping for the people he had killed, for the people he had hurt, never did he think he would cause someone that much pain, he began crying even harder as he thought about the people who cried during the funeral.

Mieu wept as he watched him master go through so much pain and guilt, he felt utterly useless and afraid for the red heads well being, he could hear and feel the sorrow coming from his master.

''Master...'' Mieu said as he cried. The session went on for a short while, Luke finally calmed down enough in order to regain himself and stand.

''If I really cause such pain, such sorrow and sadness, the world would be better off with out me, I can't stay in the public any longer, there's no telling what could happen if I stayed.'' Luke said to himself

Having made up his mind he recomposed himself and walked out the alley way, checking his pouch, he found that he had a good amount of Gald, just enough to set some supplies and possibly travel on a ferry. After a few hour of stocking up on gels and other accessories, Luke traveled out to the port, he barely managed to catch the last ride to Rugnica plains.

Once situated in side one of the rooms, he began plotting what to do next, he would have to find a way to make a living for himself, he first decided to makes sure that he brought Mieu back home, he didn't want to bring the cheagle along while he went into exile, what came next after that was something he was very uncertain of.

Seeing as it was getting late, he decided to sleep on it and figure out the rest in the morning, he went to sleep not knowing what awaited him the next day, for it would change his life forever, and quite possibly all those around him.


End file.
